This is the documentary film about Nikola Tesla, the scientist and inventor, one of the greatest men in history.

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10,1856 in Smiljan, Lika in what later became Yugoslavia.  His father, Milutin Tesla was a Serbian orthodox priest and his mother Djuka Mandic was an inventor in her own right of household appliances.  Tesla studied at the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria and the University of Prague.  He began his career as an electrical engineer with a telephone company in Budapest in 1881.

Before going to America, Tesla joined Continental Edison Company in Paris where he designed dynamos.  While in Strassbourg in 1883, he privately built a prototype of the induction motor and ran it successfully.  Unable to interest anyone in Europe in promoting this radical device Tesla accepted an offer to work for Thomas Edison in New York.

Young Nikola Tesla came to the United States in 1884.  Tesla will spend the next 59 years of his productive life living in New York.  Tesla set about improving line of dynamos while working in Edison's lab in New Jersey.  It was here that his divergence of opinion with Edison over direct current versus alternating current began.  This disagreement climaxed in the Battle of Currents as Edison fought a losing battle to protect his investment in direct current equipment and facilities.

Direct current flows continuously in one direction; alternating current changes direction 50 or 60 times per second, and can be stepped up to very high voltage levels, minimizing power loss across great distances.  The future belongs to the alternating current.

Nikola Tesla developed polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers and held 40 basic U.S. patents on the system, which George Westinghouse bought, determined to supply America with Tesla system.

In February 1882, Tesla discovered rotating magnetic field, a fundamental principle in physics and the basis of nearly all devices that use alternating current.

Tesla's A-C induction motor is widely used throughout the world in industry and household appliances.  This motor started the industrial revolution at he turn of the century.  Electricity today is generated, transmitted and converted to mechanical power by means of his inventions.  Tesla's greatest achievement is his polyphase alternating current system, which is today lighting the entire globe.

Tesia astonished the world by demonstrating the wonders of alternating current electricity at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Alternating current became standard power in the 20th century.  This accomplishment changed the world.  He designed the first hydroelectric powerplant in Niagara Falls in 1895, which was the final victory of alternating current.  The achievement was covered widely in the world press and Tesla was praised as a hero worldwide.  The King Nikola of Montenegro conferred upon him the Order of Danilo.

Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, to experiment with high voltage, high frequency electricity and other phenomena.

Tesla was a pioneer in many fields, he invented the Tesla Coil and the alternating current induction motor(which is considered one of the ten greatest discoveries of all time).  Among his discoveries are: fluorescent light, laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, Tesla's turbines and vertical take off aircraft.  Tesla is the father of the radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems.  Tesla registered over 700 patents worldwide.  His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea.  He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites.

In his speech presenting Tesla with the Edison medal, Vice President Behrend of the Institute of Electrical Engineers eloquently expressed the following thoughts: "Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the result of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark and our mills would be idle and dead.  His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science." Mr. Behrend ended his speech with a paraphrase of Pope's lines on Newton: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid by night.  God said "Let Tesla be and all was light."

Nikola Tesla's Awards and Recognitions

In 1917, Tesla was awarded the Edison Medal, the most coveted electrical prize in the United States.

Nikola Tesla's name has been honored with an International Unit of Magnetic Flux

Density called "Tesla”

The United States Postal Service honored Tesla with a commemorative stamp in 1983.

Tesla was inducted into the Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1975.

The Nikola Tesla Award is one of the most distinguished honors presented by the Institute of Electrical Engineers.  The award has been given annually since 1976.  The Nikola Tesla Statue is located on Goat Island to honor the man who is known as the inventor of the polyphase alternating current.

The Nikola Tesla corner sign located at the intersection of 40'h Street find 6th Avenue in Manhattan, is a constant reminder to all New Yorkers of the greatness of this genius.